In Chapter 13 the STA recieve new men because Staff Sargent Siek goes asking for more. The two guys that join STA are Fountain and Cortes who look like they are fresh out of boot camp. The veteran STA soldiers don't like that they are getting new guys because they weren't tested like they were they just showed up because they wanted to get out of their other jobs. Cortes is the definition of a boot because he talks, walks, and looks like a boot. Fountain is less of a boot because he was a Ranger. He can't be trusted though because he lies about what hes done. A quote that proves this is, "One day he pulls out a Ranger patch that he thinks he might be able to sew to his uniform, and we inform him that while the other services want to look like Boy Scouts, the Marines are happy looking like warriors." This proves that hes not a true STA soldier because he does belong. Also he brings back disturbing news about the base at Twentynine Palms about cheating wifes. This doesn't effect STA because none of them that are married have wives at 29 but it's still disturbing news. In the end they accept the boots because they are a tight platoon and it doesn't matter who comes because they are all connected through a sniper and that they are all part of a dysfunctional family called a paltoon.